FAST is Microsoft's latest intelligent search-based technology that boasts robustness and an ability to integrate business intelligence with Search. This in-depth guide provides you with advanced coverage on FAST search and shows you how to use it to plan, customize, and deploy your search solution, with an emphasis on SharePoint 2010 and Internet-based search solutions.

With a particular appeal for anyone responsible for implementing and managing enterprise search, this book presents the key features and functions that are available with FAST search. Real-world examples show you how the technology works and the author team of experts demonstrates how FAST can be used to solve key challenges in the Enterprise.

FAST search is Microsoft's latest search-based technology that enables large companies to filter through enormous amounts of data to find very specific pieces of information

Reviews the key features and functions of FAST and provides examples of how FAST can be used to solve common challenges you may face

Product Description

From the Back Cover

Plan, customize, and deploy Microsoft Search to get the results you want

Microsoft Enterprise Search technology offers cutting-edge innovations for connecting people to the information they seek. Written by a team of experts in the field, this book presents comprehensive coverage of Enterprise Search and the new Microsoft offerings. It starts by providing you with an understanding of how Enterprise Search differs from Internet search. It then explains how you can apply search technology across a wide range of applications, how to customize Enterprise Search to make it work for you, and how to develop applications that include search.

Professional Microsoft Search:

Surveys the issues that need to be addressed for a successful search deployment

Reviews the process of creating a business plan for search and establishing a search center of excellence

Details FAST Search for Internet Sites, including multinode deployment in Linux as well as the new Content Transformation Services and Interaction Management Services components

Delves into advanced topics and trends such as social search and search/business intelligence convergence

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)

A Valuable Tool for Consultants, Competitors, and EvaluatorsOct. 11 2010

By
packetsdontlie
- Published on Amazon.com

Format: Paperback

More than a decade ago, Microsoft announced Normandy as a suite of Internet products. Buried in the list was Microsoft Search Server. A few years later, Microsoft gave us Full Text Services for SQL Server. A couple of years after that, a confusing product list included Microsoft Desktop Search, SharePoiont Search, SQL Search and a handful of other products tied to Live. Then, Microsoft acquired FAST and added another search product in the quiver.

This book covers a very broad range of topics. If you are trying to make sense of how Microsoft is selling all of these search products, I would recommend reading Chapter 3 - "Overview of Microsoft Enterprise Search," Chapter 5 - "FAST Search Within SharePoiont 2010," and Chapter 7 - "Introduction to FAST ESP." These three chapters are a fantastic field guide and map to Microsoft's fleet of search products. Armed by these chapters, you are well suited to evaluate Microsoft's offering, help a company via consultation, or even prepare an offensive and defensive strategy to sell against the Microsoft product line as a marketer or sales engineer.

If you are selecting a Microsoft strategy, Chapter 6 - "Customizing Search with SharePoiont 2010," will provide good coverage of what is possible and even spark some ideas of using these Microsoft products for different projects. Chapter 10 - "Enterprise Search is Social Search," Chapter 11 - "Search and Business Intelligence," and Chapter 12 - "The Future of Search," provide some interesting perspectives on the edge cases where search can be called to duty including some coverage of emerging products from Microsoft including "SearchTogether" and " LookingGlass."

This book will provide some tips as a day to day operations guide, but the book's strength is in navigating so many powerful products from an enormous software portfolio.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

How to get what you want without the chaffOct. 12 2010

By
Clathrus
- Published on Amazon.com

Format: Paperback

When I do a Google search, all too frequently I get 54,286 "hits" and can only hope that what I need is in the first page or two. I have wasted literally hours trying to find that "right" hit. That's OK since I have more time than money. A successful business, however, will have more money than time and cannot afford spending an hour, or even a few minutes, trying to winnow out the "right" hit from all the chaff. Enter Fast Search, Sharepoint, and Search Server, come to save the day, able to intelligently pop up the correct result quickly and effeciently without the chaff. This book explains the value and approaches of these modern tools, introducing some of the strategies for their implementation in the 21st century business milieu. Well worth the few dollars.

For SharePointers in Enterprise or FAST search then this book is fantastic. It provide insight not only into governance and business understanding but the technology pinnings as well. Great book and great authors with significant knowledge and credibility in this area.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

Excellent book on the Enterprise Search domainOct. 14 2010

By
Rupendra
- Published on Amazon.com

Format: Paperback
Verified Purchase

An excellent book on the subject of Enterprise Search. This book is not just about FAST ESP, it gives an overview of the Enterprise Search domain, the players involved, technology stack that goes behind supporting search platform in an enterprise, subject matter expertise, costs & benefits and whats in the future for Search.

I had the privilege of working with authors Miles and Mark in one of my search projects a while ago and their in-depth knowledge and comprehensive view of Search & Information Retrieval in general is well respected in the field and this book reflects their passion and penchant for search technologies.

This book is a must for anyone looking to get to speed with FAST ESP. Also recommended for IT Managers evaluating various search platforms for their enterprises.

Besides the book, also checkout the blogs and search communities listed at end which provide valuable info and create a forum for sharing ideas and knowledge.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

The best ever book on Microsoft enterprise searchNov. 11 2010

By
Martin White
- Published on Amazon.com

Format: Paperback

There are very few books on enterprise search. Most of them have been written by academics for academics, and most software engineers would find little of value in them. This is a very different book, the result of many months of work by a quartet of authors. Mark Bennett and Miles Kehoe are the co-founders of New Idea Engineering Inc. Jeff Fried is a senior manager at Microsoft and Natalya Voskresenskaya specialises in delivering SharePoint search solutions.

The book will delight, and rescue, search development engineers seeking to get the best from SharePoint 2010 Search, FAST Search for SharePoint and FAST ESP. Chapter 1 is a very clear introduction to enterprise search, and Chapter 2 sets out the need to take a strategic view of search requirements, including some very good advice on the benefits of a Search Centre of Excellence. The next three chapters take a deep dive into the implementation of SharePoint 2010 Search, FAST Search for SharePoint, and search customisation. These chapters are just a prelude to over 70 pages on FAST ESP 5.3. The final set of chapters cover Search 2.0 issues, including search from a business intelligence perspective. Throughout the book there are screen shots (some quite difficult to read) and there are code examples which can be downloaded from Wrox.com. There is also an associated web site

Perhaps you are not a software engineer, and have no interest in the inner workings of high-end enterprise search applications. But you may be an intranet manager with responsibility for seach management as well. If you only benefit from 100 of the 480 pages in this book it will be a valuable addition to your bookshelf. There are three reasons for this. First, all four of the authors have considerable search implementation experience, and in the case of Mark and Miles in particular this extends way beyond Microsoft search products. The result is a well-balanced book that does not skip over some difficult issues. Secondly this book illustrates the complexity of search, and the need for organisations to invest in the skills needed to get the best from what will already have been a significant investment. The third reason is that throughout the book there are low-tech insights on aspects of search that will be of interest to any intranet managers who has a responsibility for search. As an example, the section on federated search on pp179 to 187 is a model of clarity on the benefits and challenges. However I would like to have seen a section on the use of query logs to support search enhancement through relevance tuning.

I can only hazard a guess at the amount of work that went into this book, a serious challenge for the three authors not earning a salary from Microsoft. The search community is very much in their debt. As I read through this book I did come to realise just how much I still have to learn about enterprise search technology. A chapter a month over the next year would be time well spent for me, and for you. (Review first published on [...])